TS News - DSS Viewers Renting Less Videos

• From: martyn@twics.com (Martyn Williams)
• Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 18:31:29 +0900
• From owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com Thu Sep 12 05: 38:45 1996

TELE-satellit News, 12 September 1996

DSS Viewers Renting Less Videos
  WASHINGTON, DC, USA, 96/09/12 (TS) -- Weeks after a survey showed DirecTV
viewers are watching less, or even no, local TV, a new survey conducted by
Nielsen and Satellite Direct has found that most owners of the 18-inch
satellite dish have stopped renting videos. If predictions come true, and 20
million Americans watch digital satellite TV by the end of the century, this
could spell trouble for the video store, say the researchers.

  "The new Digital Satellite System (DSS(R)) has nearly 100 different movie
channels, including more than 60 pay-per-view channels. So, many DSS owners
are asking: 'Who needs a video store?'" says Phillip Swann, publisher of
Satellite Direct magazine, a national TV listings guide for DSS magazine.

  The survey also found: 65% of DSS owners have stopped renting videos since
buying their dish; 74.9% of DSS owners are watching pay-per-view movies at
home. In contrast, a November 1995 Satellite DIRECT/Nielsen study found that
only 9.9% of cable households watched pay-per-view movies; 61.1% of DSS own
subscribe to a premium movie channel such as HBO. Nielsen research says that
only 49% of cable viewers subscribe to a premium channel.

  "I'm not surprised that people prefer to watch their favorite movies at
home on pay-per-view or a premium movie channel. It's convenient and
inexpensive and represents the future of home entertainment," says Swann.

(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.

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